Christmas Eve
by Autobot-Girl95
Summary: This is a short story about the Weasley family, especially Ginny and George, and how they (try to) manage to move on after Fred's dead. Set on first christmas eve after the big battle of Hogwarts. (Used to be an oneshot but it got so long I decided to divide it into three parts. Second fanfic, first HP fanfic. Please tell me what you think :) )
1. Chapter 1

**Hello dear reader, just a few words before you start. This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction - and I hope this won't be a huge disaster ;) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters but JK Rowling does.**

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**Christmas Eve**

Part One

Since the final battle, young Ginny Weasley had little reasons left to laugh. She had lost her brother Fred as well as her brother George who indeed was still alive but seemed to be a completely different person; as a matter of a fact it seemed as if with Fred George's soul had died along. Her parents and other brothers had also changed, almost everything she once used to love so much had been destroyed in this battle. Ginny longed for a deep, calm sleep and an awakening which proved that everything just had been an incredibly horrible nightmare, but whenever she'd try she would just wake up, finding everything was still the same. The youngest Weasley tried to ignore the pain and drifted into a cold and numb world, aside of her family and feelings and very similar to George who seemed to be without any emotions left – almost as if a Dementor had sucked his soul out of his body by kissing him.

Suddenly someone knocked at her door. Ginny turned her head way too slowly and eyed the door. It already had been opened and Charlie already stood in her room. He was very pale with dark shadows under his eyes apart from that he seemed to be outwardly intact. „Ginny." He called her name softly, almost whispered it. Her brown eyes met his blue ones. „Ginny, please come with me. Mum is so worried. Please! After all, today's Christmas Eve. Come now and change your clothes, I'll be waiting right here. Later there will be a surprise!" With these words, Charlie closed the door behind him and left the seventeen year old alone. Christmas Eve.

'Wow', Ginny thought, 'it is already December'. Of course there wasn't much of a Christmas spirit in the burrow, according to the latest incidents but still she was surprised that the rest of the year had been gone by that quickly. While following her thoughts for a while it took some time until Ginny finally moved, her motions were all stiff and slow. With one step after the other she went over to her cupboard and took some clothes she didn't even look at. She had to take a shower as well. After all, it was Christmas Eve. With that thought she went upstairs to the bathroom, scuffling and past Charlie, who really had waited until now behind her door.

Inside the bathroom she locked the door with shaking fingers and threw her clothes on the ground. She looked in the mirror and tried to breathe calmly. The girl in which eyes she stared – she didn't recognize her. She was too thin, too pale and her face too marked by sorrow as if she still could be Ginevra Molly Weasley, always quick at repartee and only seventeen. She quickly looked away, avoiding the stranger's blunt gaze and took off her clothes. As the warm water came pouring down on her she felt halfway alive again, felt more than herself. But she knew that this moment wouldn't last too long. She sighed, turned off the water and wrapped herself in a towel and started rubbing her hair half dry, then combed it until it was all sleek and smooth again. She changed into the fresh clothes and looked in the mirror.

There she was again, this stranger. This time however, she could see certain similarities between this girl and the Ginny she once used to be. With some secondary snapping of her wand she let the shower become all dry and clean again and the steam which had filled the small room disappeared. She unlocked the door and went downstairs again quietly, back to her room. Charlie was still standing where had seen him a few minutes ago, leaning his back against the wall. „You look better!" he said somewhat happily even if his voice sounded rather hoarse than pleased, and hugged her closely.

Ginny tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes. Charlie pretended it was a full smile and grinned back awkwardly. After all, it was Christmas Eve. „Please, go and get Percy… and George. I'll be waiting downstairs with mum, dad, Ron and Bill."Without leaving her a chance to protest or panick he turned around and quickly went downstairs. „No! Charlie I can't do this!" she hissed after him but he already was out of the range of audibility. She sighed then threw her nightgown on her bed and made her way up to Percy's room. For a short time she just stood in front of his door then finally knocked. It sounded lost.

„Come in", Percy's voice was very soft and awkwardly hoarse. Ginny entered and –stared at her normally accurately brother: Percy sat on his bed, still in his Pyjamas (well, she had just changed a few minutes ago but for Percy it was a little miracle although not a good one) his hair uncombed, his face unshaved. He was pale, too, as well as everyone else of them. „Ginny. What are you doing in here?" Percy asked her surprised and interrupted her thoughts. „I… Mum wants us to come downstairs. She is so worried!" she repeated Charlie's words as far as she remembered them. „Hm. Oh well."

Percy got up, his motions wasn't any longer elastic but somewhat clumsy as if some invisible burden was laying on him, pressing him down. He almost had reached the door when Ginny quite loudly called „Percy. You need to get yourself ready! Please, go tot he bathroom and change. After all, it's Christmas Eve!" Percy froze at the door sill but then turned around to face her and nodded slowly. Just like herself before, he went back to his cupboard and got fresh clothes then left. For a little time Ginny felt relief. But eventually she remembered that now, she had to go and get George and she felt the urge to rather go back to sleep than facing him and his new disturbing self.


	2. Chapter 2

Part Two

When she finally knocked on his door, no one answered. Of course not. He probably hadn't even hear her. Hesitantly she pushed down the doorknob when suddenly the door was opened. Appalled, Ginny pulled back her hand and soon met her brother's empty got even more scared because, if the view of Percy had horrified her, it still was no comparison to George's. He was as pale as a sheet, the shadows under his eyes seemed to never go away again and his was thinner than she ever remembered him to be.

As well as Percy, he was still in his Pyjamas and now looked her in the eyes but it seemed as if he didn't really meet her gaze. More, as if he looked right through her – as if she wasn't even there. But Ginny saw him and she saw that he had tear lines all over his pale cheeks. He probably had been crying until now and then quickly wiped his face. Typically for him, he'd never really liked to cry in front of others just like herself. They just stood there for a while until George's gaze really met her's. „Ginny!" he croaked then cleared his throat.

„How long have we been standing here?" he asked, his voice a little stronger. Ginny shrugged. „I don't know". Her voice was as soft as his. He looked back over his shoulder into his room. „Why don't you come in? Everything's… everything's clean." As if she'd matter. She followed and both sat on George's bed. And both stared on Fred's tidy bed. For a while they just sat there, each with his own sad thoughts. Suddenly, George slowly raised an arm and pulled her close to his side.

Ginny rested her head on his shoulder, astonished that he'd let her near him. For a long time he hadn't someone hugged or even looked at them. He took a deep breath before he spoke, his voice now throaty again. „I sometimes imagine him to still be here, with me… with us. I keep his illusion and sometimes catch myself talking to him although no one's there I could talk to. Please, don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't want to move on but I just can't. I can't even look into a mirror, Ginny, because I always would see _him_. There's no more George. There's just Fred trapped in another world and even when I break the glass – he's never coming back. Never again!"

With these words he started crying; she could hear and feel his sobs. That's when she started crying, too. She just wanted to tell him that everything's would be alright someday but she also knew that she couldn't lie to him. And now he started talking to himself, to a surreal picture of his lost twin… was he going mad? In her mind, Ginny saw how George together with Gilderoy Lockhart was out for a walk in Saint Mungo's. But then, George was only sad and she knew for sure that he wasn't the only one who wouldn't let a loved one go. She wanted to help him so badly and then got an idea. She cleared her throat, preparing herself for the upcoming. „What is he saying?", her voice threatened to crack but she fought the sobs coming up her throat. „George, what is he saying?

He looked at her, somewhat suspiciously. "Are you making fun of me? Because if you do, then…" She rolled her eyes, interrupting him hurriedly: "Merlin, George, I'd never do something so cruel to you! But really, what is he saying when you imagine to talk to him?" He thought for a moment. "That I… should move on. Let him go and r-rest in peace. That I should laugh again and… Oh Ginny, now this is ridiculous!" She shook her head. "No it's not. In fact, he's very right. You shouldn't stop laughing. That's like you'd betray him. _I solemnly swear that I'm up to no _good, remember that? You two used to laugh so much..."For a moment there was silence.

„Listen Ginny. Fred is dead so how will I be able to ever laugh again?" His voice was too soft to really sound angry, still his eyes got small. Ginny responded: „But that's the point. Fred's dead. Shall we all slowly forget about him? If no one's here to keep his spirit alive, then how will we be able not to forget? You gotta move on, George. We all want you to. And I'm sure somewhere else where we can't see him, a certain redhead is quite pissed about the fact that you just quit _living_ and chose to _exist_." George let go off her and now glared. „Ginny I don't wanna move on, okay! I don't want it to be over, not like this.I don't want him to leave. He tells me to let go off him but if I do then I'll be alone!" Suddenly he froze. „ Oh my… I said it. I spoke it out loud." His sentences weren't exactly connected, but Ginny thought she'd get the point.

„That's alright. He is dead. And the only chance to keep something of him is to move on and to try and keep his spirit alive in this family." George stared forward, suddenly snorting.„Well I guess this will be my task, won't it? I hardly can Percy imagine to be able to keep the spirit of mischief and fun alive…" With these words, both of them suddenly gasped for air as if they had just broke through a water surface. It all started with a little grin in the corners of their mouths. And suddenly George started to laugh.

At first it was hoarse and seemed to be somewhat clumsy, but then he became louder. He seemed to be hysterically, yes, and tears were streaming down his cheeks but he laughed and laughed and didn't stop it. Ginny soon began to laugh, too, and then they heard people coming up the stairs and the door was opened quickly. Bill, Charlie and Ron stormed in grinning with deep glee and stared disbelievingly yet happy from Ginny to George. Then Percy came in, hesitantly but also smiling. And when they finally laughed all together just like in old times, their parents came in. Molly Weasley cried of luck to see her George laugh and to see her kids finally being happy and Arthur hugged her tightly to his chest and grinned all over his face. Eventually George stopped laughing yet smiled widely and wiped his face, exclaiming: "I'm gonna go get ready. After all, it's Christmas Eve!"


	3. Chapter 3

Part Three

Later, at dawning, they were all together sitting in their living room and Ginny sat together with Bill, Percy and George on the old red couch und watched the crackling flames dancing around in their small chimney, when suddenly there was a rather soft _plopping_ sound heard from the outdoors. Following their old habits, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Ron jumped up and pointed their wands at the door while Ginny clung to George and Molly clung to Arthur.

Eventually someone knocked. Quite irritated she watched as her parents relaxed and Bill and Charlie sat down again. She wondered if this was Fleur who was supposed to be with her parents at the moment but then the door got opened and Ron flushed forward to hug his girlfriend Hermione who was just about to enter the room. Their brothers grinned widely, George also but Ginny just stared at the door sill. Because there he stood. Harry. 'He came! After all this time he finally came' Ginny thought happily while Harry showed no intentions to come in, instead he just stood there and looked her right in the eyes until she got up and pulled him outside, closing the door behind her.

Then, finally he pulled her in a very tight hug, almost too tight but she couldn't care less. She buried her face in his shoulder and just hugged back when he began to talk „My, Ginny. You've gotten so thin! Do I have to have a serious talk to your mother about that?" he teased her lightly making her giggle. „Oh, don't worry silly, I just wasn't hungry. But I think I could use a nice dinner today to be honest" she responded and looked up to be able to meet his gaze. „That's perfectly fitting because I know for a fact that today there is going to be a meal that will satisfy all of us, thanks to your mother!" He told her and kissed her on the forehead gently.

She smiled, then said: "Now everything's gonna be alright. Just imagine, George laughed today. For the very first time since… well since Fred's dead. And that has to be a good sign!" Harry watched her excited smile and how her eyes shined while she told him and nodded. "Yes, now everything's gonna be alright."


End file.
